


We are young

by Vault_Emblem



Category: Fire Emblem Echoes: Mou Hitori no Eiyuu Ou | Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, Fire Emblem Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Epiphanies, F/M, Falling In Love, Flashbacks, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-01
Updated: 2019-04-01
Packaged: 2019-12-18 08:50:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18246482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vault_Emblem/pseuds/Vault_Emblem
Summary: Gray and Clair have decided to go watch a movie for their date, and yet Gray can't stop staring at Clair.





	We are young

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sleep_incarnate](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sleep_incarnate/gifts).



> Well, there you go, sleep_incarnate. I hope you like this <3
> 
> Disclaimer: I’ll just say it now so it doesn’t come up in the comments.  
> Yes, I use hyphens for dialogues and quotation marks for thoughts. Why? Because this is how we do in Italy, the country I’m from (actually there’s more freedom in Italy and more than one method to use this kind of punctuation but whatever).  
> This is the method I’ve learned and the one I’m used to, and I don’t think I’ll even change it.  
> Please, I beg you, stop pointing it out, it’s starting to get really annoying, especially when that’s the only thing people comment about.

Gray should focus, he knows that; they’ve paid to go watch this movie, and he isn’t paying the slightest attention to it.

To be fair, though, everyone would do that when they have sweet, perfect Claire sitting beside them, watching the movie unfold with clear awe and anticipation. That, for Gray is the true show, and he doesn’t want to lose any second of it.

 

He has to be honest, he couldn’t give two damns about the movie, but Clair really wanted to go, and who’s Gray to say no to her?

She could ask him everything and he would do his best to make that wish come true. Yes, he’s in that deep.

 

Some people might tell him that someone like Clair is too high maintenance, but Gray would just laugh and them and say that it’s because she’s a true lady. She only deserves the best of the best.

 

Ah… and to think that this has started only because Gray wanted to show off.

There wasn’t any official bet, but he thought that it would be cool if he could manage to seduce one of the most popular girls in town just to flex on his friends and their poor love lives – apart from Alm, but Alm doesn’t count since he’s practically already married to Celica.

He thought this was such a genius idea, but actually he’s the one who’s gotten swept off his feet by Clair.

 

He can’t say that when she first started rejecting him over and over it didn’t hurt, but he has realized now that it was best for the both of them. After all, if they got together back them, how long they were going to last? His optimism makes him believe that maybe he could’ve been able to handle it for a month, maybe two, but it wouldn’t have worked out.

He didn’t know her well and she didn’t know him well too. They would have gone nowhere if they started a relationship back then.

 

What made him change his mind? Oh, Gray remembers that moment too well.

Clair has probably forgot about it because well, it was a pretty stupid moment, one of those moments in life that have no meaning, that are just there as a filler, but for Gray that’s the most important instant of his life.

They were at Tobin’s house, during his birthday party – ah, what a day – and he was comfortably lying on the couch beating Tobin’s ass at Smash Bros when he turns his head and he sees her; she was hanging at the buffet table, having a conversation with that kid Delthea who she seemed intent on pulling under her wing. They weren’t too far and Gray managed to get some bits of what they were talking about, and then… it happened.

To this day he still can’t remember what the hell Delthea said to provoke such a reaction in Clair but she burst into laughter, something very far from the usual contained chuckle she allows herself to show in presence of other people.

She even snorted! She snorted! That was unheard of!

  


It was then that Gray realised that he was an utter fool.

She might act like a true lady, but Clair is a human, just like them, a human who sometimes will snort while laughing.

He doesn’t know why it’s _that_ the thing that has stricken him so much, but yeah, Clair snorts when she laughs, and it’s the cutest thing ever.

 

From that moment it wasn’t “Clair the lady” the one he was interested in, but Clair, the pretty girl who likes horses and high fashion, but who also never refuses a chance to speak to anybody – even if they have a lower social status than hers – and who likes to help people and, most importantly, who snorts sometimes when laughing.

 

Clair must’ve sensed this change in him, because from that moment on she became more approachable that she ever was, even allowing Gray the pleasure of going out alone, just the two of them.

For her it was more of a gradual process compared to Gray’s, but she came to realize that there’s more to this person who she thought was just a loud jerk; he’s actually… kind of a doofus, and he has a good hearth despite everything.

Yes, he really is a good person, and with time Clair has found herself wanting to spend more and more time with this newfound version of Gray, much to everyone’s surprise.

 

 

And here they are now, enjoying a movie on a date – yes, a real date, an official one.

 

Clair moves her gaze away from the screen just for a moment but she immediately notices that Gray’s staring at her.

\- Is something wrong, Gray? -, she asks, her tone of voice maybe a bit too loud given their circumstances, and in fact it doesn’t pass too much time before she hears someone shushing her.

She immediately lowers her head in shame for having been called out in a place like that, but her gaze is still on Gray, worried that he might be feeling unwell.

 

\- You’re… you’re beautiful, Clair -.

 

He means it. He really does.

Not that there is ever a moment in which Clair isn’t beautiful of course, but there’s something especially pretty when she’s genuine, when her expressions aren’t poised, fake, but real, even when maybe she makes an exaggerate face, or she snorts when she laughs.

This is her true beauty because this is the real Clair, not the one she pretends to be in order to fit the image of the proper lady.

 

Clair immediately looks away, muttering a “you…”, and even in the dim light of the movie theatre Gray can see the reddening of her cheeks and somehow, he feels even more smitten.

He slowly, oh so slowly, stretches a hand, gently putting it over Clair’s, who was resting it on her leg. It’s just a soft touch, a way to tell her that she doesn’t have to accept it if she doesn’t want to – she’s unpredictable when it comes to PDA, but Gray’s come to accept it and as of late he’s trying to do his best to act accordingly, as ever good boyfriend should do.

Clair still doesn’t meet his gaze, but Gray can clearly feel her hand squeezing his, keeping him there with no way to pull away – not that Gray would want that.

  


And so they stay like this, their attention on the screen again, but they’re both distracted by the warmth of the other’s hand, a feeling that, as simple as it might be, it fills them both with joy.

It sure took them a long time to get there, but you know what? They wouldn’t have it any other way.

**Author's Note:**

> [ Here's my links page so that, if you want, you can support me on other platforms as well! ](https://bi-naesala.tumblr.com/links)


End file.
